Last Sunday I shared with you that when you accepted Jesus as your Savior, you were given a new name from the Lord’s own mouth (Isaiah 62:2). And with this new name came a new purpose. Simon the fisherman became Peter the fisher of men. Saul of Tarsus, the destroyer of the church became Paul the Apostle, the builder of the church.
With our new purpose come new identities for us. We are God’s masterpiece, both individually and corporately (Ephesians 2:10).
We are over comers (Romans 8:35). Revelation 12:11 informs us “they (Christians) have defeated him (satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony.” Jesus provided the blood of the Lamb but our testimony is just as valuable to over coming the enemy. Our testimony, which is the words from our mouth, is the evidence of what we believe. When we speak negative words about ourselves, we have given power back to satan.
We are ambassadors sent from the Kingdom of God. We were chosen by Jesus to represent Jesus, to reflect Jesus in our lives, and to resonate the excitement of being a citizen of his Kingdom. In John 15:16 Jesus says, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit.” We did not choose the role of ambassador. He appointed us his ambassadors. We have no choice in the role. We can only choose to be good ambassadors or bad ambassadors.
In order to be good ambassadors, over comers, and masterpieces there may be some flaws we need to diagnose. Over the next four weeks, we will ponder these flaws and how we can improve in areas that show our weaknesses.
I want to start today with a true story of a man who did not live up to his name. The year was 1897. This man named Pearle had his hands in several ventures. Besides being a construction worker he also dabbled in patent medicines and went door to door selling homemade remedies. In the midst of his tinkering, he discovered a rather flavorful concoction that he thought he might be able to sell door to door. Unfortunately, sales did not go as fast as he thought they should. After a few months, he found a buyer for the patent to his flavorful concoction and sold it to Orator Woodward for a fast $450.
Woodward recognized the bargain he got. Understanding the value of marketing and patience, within eight years of the purchase, he turned that $450 investment into a million dollar business. Although both men are long deceased, the descendants of Woodward still receives income from this investment while Pearle’s descendants receive nothing.
Even today, 1.1 billion boxes of this product are sold every day. It still carries the name given to it by Pearle’s wife. This flavorful concoction made from mixing fruit flavoring with granulated gelatin is still called “Jell-o”.
Remember I said that Pearle was a man who did not live up to his name? His name was Pearle Wait. You might say Wait just could not wait.
Today we are going to talk about patience. We live in a fast-paced world. Our patience is spread thin. We want our food fast. If we sit in a drive-thru for longer than three minutes, we have been there for twenty. I get upset if they read the menu. I want to yell at them “It’s the same menu they have had for five years.”
We want to get where we are going fast. Sitting at red lights is frustrating. Getting behind someone who is actually driving the speed limit and not the complementary nine miles over is infuriating.
We look for quick meals that we can put in the microwave so we do not have to spend time waiting for the stove to preheat to 400 degrees and cook for 30 minutes.
Every new gadget is advertised as being faster. For me, my computer is not fast enough. I get impatient waiting for it to open a site and start punching keys to switch to other sites, all the while this little circle just spins around, taunting me. Finally, in frustration, I turn it off and reboot.
I often grow impatient with people. I dislike going to the doctor’s office, knowing I will be in the waiting room for thirty minutes before being escorted into checkup room where I will wait for another thirty minutes. Then the doctor will spend ten minutes of quality time with me before billing me and sending me away. I wonder why they do not give you an appointment time and tell you to come an hour later.
All of you know what I am talking about because we all grow impatient. There are numerous examples in the Bible of people who exhibited limited patience and it ended very badly for them.
The Greek word for impatient is best described this way; a refusal to wait for people or developments, frequently displaying a lack of faith. We see a prime example of this in the actions of King Saul.
Scripture tells us that Saul came from the tribe of Benjamin. Only those from the tribe of Levi were allowed to make sacrifices. The Israelites had been winning all their battles but they found themselves in a tight spot when they saw their enemy’s numbers to be as many as the grains of sand. Saul’s men began hiding. Some fled across the Jordan River.
Samuel had told Saul to wait for his return in seven days. But Saul became impatient and we see his reaction.
1 Samuel 13:8-10 “Saul waited there seven days for Samuel, as Samuel had instructed him earlier, but Samuel still didn’t come. Saul realized that his troops were rapidly slipping away. So he demanded, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings!” And Saul sacrificed the burnt offering himself.
Just as Saul was finishing with the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet and welcome him,”
What we witness here is how impatience can lead us to disobedience.
However, we are called to be patient. The definition for the word patience in Greek is “internal and external control in a difficult circumstance, which control could exhibit itself by delaying an action.” Listen to God’s instructions on how we are to be patient with others.
The Scripture tells us to “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” (Ephesians 4:2).
When we are not patient with each other and when we do not allow for each other’s faults, we are walking in disobedience. We are to be humble and gentle, not rude and gruff.
Jerry Bridges in his book “The Practice of Godliness” writes, “Every day God patiently bears with us, and every day we are tempted to become impatient with our friends, neighbors, and loved ones. And our faults and failures before God are so much more serious than the petty actions of others that tend to irritate us! God calls us to graciously bear with the weaknesses of others, tolerating them and forgiving them even as He has forgiven us.”
The Scripture also tell us “Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.” (1 Thessalonians 5:14).
To truly understand this verse we must first understand the deeper meanings of the Greek definitions of lazy, timid, and weak.
We are to warn those who are lazy, that is so inactive in the body that it leads to disorder. When church services are in disorder due to those who refuse to become active in service we are to warn them. When Jesus said one day, we would hear “Well done my good and faithful servant” He was talking to those who had been in a servant’s role. I must warn you to hear that you must serve. But in warning you, I must be patient.
We are to encourage those who are timid, which is those who are discouraged. Often discouraged people do not want to be lifted out of their discouragement. They would rather bring you down with their discouragement. But we are to encourage them with patience.
We are to take care of those who are weak with a spiritual or physical illness. Often we want to be the head cheerleader telling them all will be fine without realizing how bleak things seem to them. We are to be patient with them.
The scripture tells us “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people.” (2 Timothy 2:24). Not many of us know how to be a servant. Being a servant in the time of Paul meant giving away all your privileges and rights to serve others. As a Christian we are called to that same position. When we cross paths with difficult people we are to exhibit internal and external control by delaying any actions. In other words, we cannot afford to lose our cool.
The reason being when we show lack of patience we are showing impatience like Saul. And like Saul, there could be consequences.
1 Samuel 13:13-14 “How foolish!” Samuel exclaimed. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. Had you kept it, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom must end,”
Saul’s lack of patience led him to disobedience, which cost him everything.
Let’s look at a character whose impatience cost him everything and what led up to it. It’s the story of an outdoorsman named Esau who had a younger twin brother that was a bit of a momma’s boy. His name was Jacob.
Esau liked to hunt. Jacob liked to cook. Genesis 25:29-33
“One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry. Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!” (This is how Esau got his other name, Edom, which means “red.”)
“All right,” Jacob replied, “but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.”
“Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?”
But Jacob said, “First you must swear that your birthright is mine.” So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob.”
Esau comes in from hunting and smells supper cooking. Impatience goes to work and makes demands “I want to eat now. I cannot wait.” When we grow impatient, we begin making demands on others. We certainly lose that servants heart that patience has called us to have. Those demands often become extreme. We explode in fits of rudeness. We forget how to ask kindly.
Impatience will also cause us to complain. Esau grumbled about his hunger louder than his stomach. He should have aimed for the patience of Job.
Job is someone we often associate with patience. I think we all have said about someone, “They have the patience of Job.” But even Job had his limits. By the time we get to Job, Chapter 21, he has experienced a lot of suffering from loss of family and wealth to loss of health to nagging friends. In Job 21:4, he has reached the end of his rope. “My complaint is with God, not with people. I have good reason to be so impatient.”
Author Woodrow Kroll writes, “Ultimately, all our complaints are directed against God.” If God is truly in charge of all aspects of your life, than all of your complaints fed by impatience are aimed at the way He is directing things. Complaining about the long line at the supermarket because there is somewhere you need to be? It’s God’s fault. Complaining about being stuck in traffic because you are tired and want to get home? It’s God’s fault. Complaining because you are hungry and the preacher will not stop talking? Take it to God.
Not only is impatience demanding and filled with complaining it also leads to exaggeration. Esau makes the statement “I’m dying of starvation.” He wasn’t dying. He wasn’t even starving. He was hungry. Impatience blew everything out of proportion.
Have you ever made these statements? I know I have. I hit every red light on my way here. I always pick the line with the slowest cashier. No matter which lane I drive in there always will be a slow poke. Impatience will always make things worse than they are.
Impatience will also lead to foolish decisions. Esau gave his birthright away. A birthright was the most important legacy in the life of a Jewish man. And because he became impatient over a bowl of soup, he gave that legacy away. It was a legacy established by God. How did that affect his relationship with God? Romans 9:13 “In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.” Impatience can lead to rejection.
Let me leave you today with another story. “There was once a farmer who went to town to purchase seeds for his farm. As he was returning home, one of the squash seeds he had purchased fell from his pocket onto the ground. It happened that within a few feet was another seed of a different type. The place where the two seeds lay was rather fertile, and miraculously they took root.
After about a week, the squash seed showed signs of growth. The second seed showed none. After two weeks, the squash began to sprout leaves. The second seed showed none. After seven weeks, the squash began to show fruit. The second seed still showed no progress. Four more weeks came and went.
The squash plant reached the end of its life bearing much fruit in that time, but the other seed finally began to slowly grow. Many years later, the squash was all but forgotten, but the other tiny seed, an acorn, had grown into a mighty oak tree.”
James 5:7-8 “Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. You, too, must be patient.”
Whatever you are seeking, be patient. Sometimes it takes both a fall rain and a spring rain to see the fruit of your desire. Look for it eagerly. Be patient. It’s coming
